Stars
by NikkiCross
Summary: Kakashi, Naruto's sensei, realizes that he is in fact in love with the blond teenager. Taking on a dangerous S ranked mission intended for Naruto, Kakashi completes his mission with deadly consequences. He comes to terms with himself while what little life he has left fades, leaving Naruto to discover him and learn of his true feelings towards the young man. KakaNaru
1. Chapter 1

Heyo guys! Nikki Here! I'm sure you're curious about this, considering how I'm already writing an ItaNaru fic, huh? Well, to be honest, KakaNaru (Teenage/adult only) is probably my favorite pairing. Originally, That's not Good, my current big project, was going to be a KakaNaru, but I liked the Itachi Naruto pairing better for a time travel fic. I suppose this can be read as a one shot, but I do intend to update this further, so any feedback will be appreciated. Thanks guys! I love you all!

~Nikki

The stars arched before him, their sheer number and beauty stealing the masked man's already fading breath, forcing him to realize just what he'd been missing out on all this time. They seemed to shimmer as he gazed upwards and a small flicker of color in the corner of his eye caught the man's attention. Using the last of his fading strength to turn and look at one of the most striking scenes he had ever seen in his painful life, the man smiled. The deep blue colors of the Aurora Borealis reminded him of a certain blonde's eyes, just as vibrant, vivid, enchanting, and _alive_ as the young man's gorgeous orbs were.

 _Naruto…_ The masked man thought. _I'm so sorry…_

Using strength he didn't even know he had left, the man once again turned his head and gazed up at the beautiful stars presented before him. A streak of white flashed through the night sky lighting up the area around the severely injured man for several seconds allowing him to see the remnants of his prior battle. Masked ninja were splayed out around him in impossible positions with pools of blood staining the snow red broadcasting the fact that they were no longer among the living. Soon, the only survivor realized, he wouldn't be either.

 _Naruto…_ The man thought once again. _I think, I think… no. I have no right. I've failed you as your sensei._ He scoffed. _Hell, what am I saying? No sensei thinks of his students like this. My only hope is that you'll forgive me. I know I don't deserve it and I'm being selfish, but in the end, I couldn't bear the thought of losing you as well. I know that you are stronger than me, and you have far surpassed my expectations in every way imaginable, so please, know that I only did this for your protection._

Dimly, the man realized that the edges of his vision were going black, and the darkness was starting to creep further into his visible eye. Glancing at the sky once again the man saw yet another streak of white, but not quite as bright this time. Smiling once again he recalled laying out on their backs as he was now, in the long grass at one of Konoha's countless training grounds after a late night sparring session with Naruto.

 _ **Flashback**_

"Look, Sensei!" Naruto gasped pointing at the stars. "Did you see it?"

"See what, Naruto?" He drawled.

"The falling star, baka-sensei!" Naruto said rolling his eyes. "When you see one, you're supposed to make a wish."

"Oh really," He said once again in the bored drawl of his. "Well then, what did you wish for?"

Naruto snorted. "To become the best Hokage ever of course. And for a lifetime supply of Ichiraku ramen."

"Anything else?" Naruto's sensei inquired.

"Ah, well…" Naruto responded blushing. "N-not really. What about you, sensei?"

"There's no need," He responded.

"What do you mean?" Naruto cried. "Of course there's need for you to make a wish! I know it may sound stupid, but I really enjoy it! Honestly, you ought to-"

"Naruto!" The masked man cut him off. "All I meant by that was that my wish had already come true."

"H-huh?" Naruto stammered. "What was it, then?"

The man grinned. "Isn't it taboo to tell someone what you wished for?"

"W-well yes," Naruto said. "But I told you mine, so you have to tell me yours."

A silence followed the blond's statement.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked. "You're not offended, are you? That wasn't my intention, I swear."

Another silence followed Naruto's question. Suddenly, Naruto felt his sensei move his hand. Gently, the man's hand ended up atop the blond's, interlacing his fingers with the younger man's.

"S-sensei?" Naruto stuttered.

"Shh Naruto," He responded. "Just a little longer. Please."

"O-okay," Naruto whispered as they lay there for a few minutes.

Finally working up his nerve, Naruto cautiously moved his head over to lay it on the grass by his sensei's shoulder. Naruto could feel the emanating shock from the masked man.

"This," Naruto murmured.

"Huh?" The masked man asked.

"My other wish," He said simply. "This was it."

"Okay," His sensei whispered leaning his head down to rest on his student's.

 _ **Present Time**_

Deciding the last thing he wanted to see was Naruto, the man closed his visible and eye and tried his hardest to picture the only bright thing in his bleak life. A perfect image of his student appeared in his head. Naruto stood there smiling, as always, adorned in his bright orange and black tracksuit his gorgeous eyes sparkling with more light and energy than even the sun. The man could feel one last smile tugging at his lips.

"...ashi-sensei! Kakashi!"

Smiling a bit wider the man realized he was even hearing his voice, faint as it was.

"Naruto…" Kakashi whispered feeling incredibly light and warm. "I love you."

"KAKASHI!"

Kakashi was almost sure he could feel a slight pressure on his body after hearing Naruto's voice slightly louder this time, but knew that he must be dreaming, as Naruto was safe in Konoha somewhere. He'd assured it by taking this mission for him.

"Kakashi!" The voice cried. "Just hold on! I'm going to save you, but you just need to hold on. Can you hear me? Kakashi!"

Feeling light and sleepy, Kakashi figured it was finally time to go speak with his father once more.

 _Goodbye, Naruto._ He thought. _I do. I really do love you. If only I could tell you…_

"KAKASHI!" the voice screamed once again. "Please don't go! I love you too! Please, just stay with me!"

And with that, Kakashi knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Nikki here! I just want you to know this chapter really hurt to write, as I really just wanted to rush through and get to Naruto getting to Kakashi, but I knew I needed to keep the pacing slow. My heart really hurts right now from writing this, and I'm trying to guilt anyone into this, but reviews tend to help me cheer up, so maybe help a fellow out? Alright, thank you, and I love you all!

~Nikki

 _ **Konoha two hours prior**_

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked confused. "He took my mission?"

Naruto had just arrived in Lady Tsunade's temporary office in a tent to receive his mission, and was greeted by this shocking news.

"Unfortunately, he refused to stand down. Originally this mission was intended for you, Sakura, and Shikamaru. Honestly, I don't understand why he refused to let you all take it. I mean, I even offered to let him go with you and he refused saying that he 'Needed to complete this mission alone' and how it was 'Too dangerous for ninja as young as them.' I honestly don't get him at all. What took you so long to get here, anyways? It's practically midnight!" Tsunade grumbled.

"That's bull!" Naruto yelled. "Kakashi-sensei should know better than anyone that I'm just as capable as he is, if not stronger! Sure, I may not be the genius he is, but I would of had Shikamaru and Sakura with me! What the hell is his problem?"

Tsunade was still looking at him as Naruto processed her last question.

"Oh, and I was training out in the woods, so your Anbu had trouble finding me."

"I see... I'm not sure what his problem is, Naruto, but your tardiness certainly isn't helping my mood," Lady Tsunade said sounding annoyed. "Speaking of which, is there something going on between you two?"

"Wha-what? O-of course not! He's my sensei, damn it! There's absolutely nothing going on between us! Not at all!" Naruto stammered frantically while crossing his arms in front of him to resemble an X. Tsunade smirked.

"You sound more like you're trying to convince yourself than me," Tsunade chuckled.

"W-what are you trying to imply here, baa-chan?" Naruto growled.

"Geez kid. No need to get so sour," Tsunade said defensively. "I'm just trying to say that if there's something going on between that pervert sensei and my otouto I'd like to know."

"O-oh," Naruto said relieved. "Well, there's nothing going on, so you don't need to worry."

"Naruto," Tsunade sighed. "I want you to be honest with me, okay? I lost the love of my life, Dan, at a young age, and one of my deepest regrets is not admitting my feelings sooner so we could have spent more time together. I've seen you with Kakashi, Naruto. I've seen the way you look at him, like he's the only star in the sky, or some horribly sappy bullshit like that. I don't want you to make the same mistake I did. I want you to trust me, Naruto, and just tell me how you feel about him."

"I-I…" Naruto mumbled. "I don't really know. I don't know how I feel about him, and that's what really pisses me off! Argh!"

Naruto slammed his fist on the Hokage's already wobbly desk resulting in a dangerous cracking sound.

"Oops.." Naruto said. "S-sorry about that, baa-chan."

Tsunade sighed. "It's alright. The poor thing was broken already."

An awkward silence filled the room as Tsunade stared at Naruto who refused to meet her gaze, and seemed to find scuffing his foot in the dust on the ground a much more entertaining pastime.

"Naruto," The Hokage started. "If you don't know how you feel about him, then why don't you just start by telling me how you feel around him."

"Around him?" Naruto asked confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, baka, tell me how you feel when he walks into the same room as you. How about when he touches you, or looks in your direction. Maybe into your eyes…" Tsunade finished slightly dreamily.

"O-oh," Naruto said, slight understanding dawning in his eyes. "That sounds kind of girly, though."

"Naruto!" Tsunade snapped. "Do you want to know how you feel about him or not?"

"O-okay already!" Naruto cried taking a defensive stance. "I guess I'll start with the first one. Um, when he walks into the room, I guess I get kind of… I don't know, hot? Itchy?"

"Itchy?" Tsunade said with a disbelieving tone.

"I-I mean, my eyes are really drawn to him, but when I don't look at him, I feel really hot and tingly until I look at him, I guess. I just can't keep my eyes off him…" Naruto finished with a glazed expression and a slight blush dusting his cheekbones.

 _So cute,_ Tsunade found herself thinking as she looked at the lovesick blond. _Lovesick. That's certainly how I'd describe it. Kami he's got it bad._

"It's pretty bad when he touches me though. My heart starts beating really fast and wherever he touches starts to burn really bad. I don't know why though…" Naruto trailed off subconsciously rubbing the spot on his arm where his sensei had squeezed this morning and blushing even harder.

 _Oh boy._ Tsunade thought. _Here we go._

"U-um about when he looks at me," Naruto started as he snapped out of his stupor. "I guess I get even hotter, and I always want to look back. It makes me feel out of breath, and my heart starts to squeeze kind of painfully. It's really bad when we make eye contact though…"

The Hokage was repressing the growing urge to squeal as she listened to the teenage shinobi in front of her speak.

 _Oh Kami,_ She thought. _Oh_ Kami! _He's got it really bad. Okay, one final test._

"What about when you two make eye contact?" The Hokage asked innocently.

""I-I… Do we really have to do this?" Naruto asked.

"YES!" Tsunade roared. "Er," She cleared her throat. "I mean, yes, Naruto. You've already gotten this far, so it'd be cowardly to give up now."

"I'm not a coward," Naruto growled.

"I know," The older woman said. "So prove it."

"F-fine then! I will!" Naruto exclaimed.

"By the way," Tsunade said. "Since when did you have a stutter?"

"Shut up baa-chan!" Naruto said managing to turn even more red. "When we make eye contact… I guess…"

"Yes?" Tsunade asked anxiously.

"I get really hot. I can't even pant. My breath just freezes in my throat and everything except for him gets fuzzy and dull. Then my knees get really weak and I feel like they might give out. And then we get stuck like that, usually for a few seconds. It feels like hours though. You don't suppose he's using his sharingan on my, do you?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Oh Naruto!" Tsunade cried no longer able to hold back as she flew over to embrace the younger man. "You're so adorable! No, he's not using Sharingan on you. It's obvious! You're totally in love with him!"

"I-I am!?" Naruto cried shocked.

"Yes Naruto, you are. And you'd better figure out how to tell him once he gets back or I might not be able to resist."

"Wh-what!? No! You can't tell him! Anything but th-"

Naruto was abruptly cut off as an anbu wearing a crane mask burst through the entrance.

"Tsunade-sama! Thank goodness!" The anbu exclaimed. "We have an update about the mission you were going to send Uzumaki, Haruno, and Nara on. The mission has officially been upgraded to double S class as we have received reports of multiple A and S ranked missing ninja in the organization. I appears you haven't sent anyone yet, so I think we have some time to reorganize this as an anbu mission instead of-"

The anbu stopped abruptly as he realized both Naruto and Tsunade were frozen with horrified expressions on their sheet white faces.

"Tsunade-sama?" He questioned shakily. "Is something wrong?"

"Naruto," Tsunade said her voice dull. "Find Neji, Sakura, and Shizune and haul your asses to Snow Country immediately. You have five minutes to leave."

"Yes Tsunade-sama," Naruto said in barely a whisper as he recovered from shock and catapulted out of the tent to grab Shizune and Sakura from the medical storage tent.

As Naruto rocketed across the ground of the dusty remains of the village from Pain's attack he knocked several people over and narrowly avoided knocking over Neji in the process. Skidding to a halt, Naruto spun to face the Hyuuga.

"Naruto?" Neji asked. "What's the matter?"

"We have a mission," Naruto said, his voice sounding hollow. "Meet by the gate in five minutes ready to go to Snow Country."

Naruto swung back around ready to bolt off again.

"Naruto! This is madness! Five minutes simply isn't enough time!" Neji cried.

Without turning around Naruto said in the same empty voice, "Be there in five minutes or I leave without you." And with that he shot off towards the medical supplies tent.

"Naruto!" Neji yelled. "Damn, what's his problem. He practically killed me and he didn't even apologize. Something must be seriously wrong…"

Neji spun around and shot off towards the weapons intending to have more than enough weapons for whatever upcoming battle they may be facing. Naruto, meanwhile, continued his journey to Shizune and Sakura, Using every ounce of restraint in his body not to just leave on his own and hope he got there in time. Arriving at the tent he ripped the tent flap entirely off.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. "Watch what you're…" She trailed off seeing the expression on his face. "W-what's wrong? Naruto?"

"Where's Shizune?" Naruto asked, his empty voice still in place.

"Sh-she's in the back. Do you need me to go get her? Is something wrong? I there something I can-"

"Get Shizune," Naruto abruptly cut Sakura off.

"O-okay," Sakura said, terrified at the tone of voice Naruto was using. It was so _cold._ So un-Naruto-like. She raced to the back room and simply grabbed Shizune without a word, dragging her to the main room of the tent.

"Sakura! What is the meaning of thi-" Shizune stopped like Sakura had before seeing Naruto's expression. She wasn't sure what scared her the most, the fact that he wasn't smiling, or the fact that he seemed to be physically restraining himself from attacking them.

"Naruto?" Shizune whispered.

""We have a mission," Naruto said, his eyes looking dull. "We are going to Snow Country. You have three minutes to prepare."

"Wha-what?" Sakura cried shocked. "That's impossible! Naruto, you can't possibly-"

"Two minutes," Naruto snapped.

"Naruto!" Shizune gasped. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Kakashi might be dead," Naruto said without displaying any emotion. "So if you don't hurry up and get to the damn gate, I'm leaving without you."

Once again, Naruto spun around and went flying to the gate.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "Wait! Shizune, how long does it take to get to Snow Country?"

"About an hour," Shizune replied shakily. "It'll be full dark by the time we get there."

Sakura rushed over and grabbed her weapons pouch as well as her medical supplies and tossed Shizune's stuff to her.

"Let's go, then," Sakura said gravely.

"Okay," Shizune agreed.

Immediately, the two medic ninja rushed out of the tent, broken flap completely disregarded. Naruto, having just arrived at the gate, was shocked to see Neji waiting there for him.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked.

Naruto shook his head. "We're waiting on Sakura and Shizune."

"I see. Here they come now," Neji said.

Sakura gave a strained smile towards Naruto as she landed.

"Right on time," She said. "And Naruto? I'm not sure what your relationship towards Kakashi is other than sensei, as I've seen you two getting rather close, but I promise you, he's going to be okay."

Naruto simply started walking through the gate.

"Let's go," He said, barely audible. It didn't matter though. The others knew what he had said. So with that, they all went flying off in the direction of Snow Country.

 _Kakashi,_ Naruto thought. _Hang on. I'm coming._


End file.
